W.T. (Tim) Cole: Bush Pilot to Bureaucrat and Back

“It’s pretty intimidating for an Ontario farm boy to be out there saying, holy mackerel I’m just about at the tip of mainland North America and everything rests on this big ol’ round engine.”

W.T. (Tim) Cole takes us on a journey through his aviation career starting in the 60’s at the legendary bush operation, Laurentian Air Services, all the way through to his various roles in Transport Canada on the West Coast, and his flying adventures post-retirement in his Cessna 172. His career is a great example of the sort of interesting and fulfilling jobs you can find as a pilot.

With over 13,000 hours in his logbook, half of which is on floats, skis, and in the bush, Tim has a treasure trove of stories, and he’s published a lot of them in his new memoir “Tight Floats and Tailwinds” - it's well worth the read. We touch on some of those stories, and more in this episode. 

You can buy his book on the BCGA store: https://www.bcaviation.ca/store/p52/tightfloats.html

I hope these full length episodes are entertaining and worthwhile for you – fire me a message or an email and let me know! Do you want shorter episodes, or do you like the in-depth long format shows? You can reach me on Instagram @flyingbritishcolumbia or email me through the website at http://www.flyingbc.com